Kelly Cheng doesn’t do much with her fingernails.
Good thing, too.
On Sunday evening in Paris during their first-round playoff matchup with Italians Marta Menegatti and Valentina Gottardi, the length — or lackthereof — of the 6-foot-2 blocker’s nails was every bit as critical as her serving and siding out.
Up 13-11 in the third set, Gottardi swung wide in transition — just over the block of Cheng.
Or did it nip her fingers?
Italy challenged, looking for a touch off the block, and the ensuing replay showed the ball missing Cheng’s outstretched fingers by millimeters. The error extended the lead to 14-11 in favor of the USA, and two sideouts later, Cheng and Hughes clinched a thrilling 21-18, 17-21, 15-12 victory and a berth into the quarterfinals.
The fact that the third set was as close as it eventually became was a testament to Italy’s resolve and perhaps a touch of nerves on behalf of the USA. Up 10-4 in the third, many American fans could have begun early coronations of a fourth straight victory for Cheng and Hughes. But Menegatti is not a four-time Olympian for naught, and Gottardi, her 21-year-old partner, did not win the Beach Pro Tour 2023 Rookie of the Year and Server of the Year for naught.
Back they grinded, rattling off a 7-2 run on a blend of American errors, Gottardi blocks, and Menegatti digs and transition kills to cut the lead to 12-11. The first and only chance they had to tie the set for the first time since it was 1-1 was held off by a USA sideout, and the momentum halted entirely by the slimmest of margins, on a swing that would have clipped the fingernails of, say, Canada’s Brandie Wilkerson, but not Kelly Cheng.
The match was another chapter in the tremendous rivalry between the two teams. Three out of their four matches have gone the full three sets, while the other, the 2023 Tepic Elite16 semifinals, went 30-28, 21-19.
Cheng and Hughes are into the quarterfinals, where they will match up with the hottest team in the tournament in Switzerland’s Nina Brunner and Tanja Huberli. Earlier Sunday, Brunner and Huberli swept Spain’s Lili Fernandez and Paula Soria, 23-21, 21-16, their fourth straight sweep. They are one of just two teams left who haven’t dropped a set, the other being Brazil’s Ana Patricia Silva and Duda Lisboa, who will play Japan’s Miki Ishii and Akiko Hasegawa on Monday and are expected to add another sweep to the ledger.
In seven matchups between Switzerland and the USA, Brunner and Huberli have won four, the most recent being a 21-16, 21-11 sweep at the Ostrava Elite16 in June. The previous two meetings this year – in the Doha and Brasilia Elite16s – have been decided 15-13 in the third set, each team winning one.
Monday’s Olympics beach volleyball schedule
Svenja Muller, Cinja Tillmann (Germany) vs. Tina Graudina, Anastasija Samoilova (Latvia)
Michal Bryl, Barosz Losiak (Poland) vs. Adrian Gavira, Pablo Herrera (Spain)
Tania Moreno, Daniela Alvarez (Spain) vs. Katja Stam, Raisa Schoon (Netherlands)
Chase Budinger, Miles Evans (USA) vs. Anders Mol, Christian Sorum (Norway)
Andy Benesh, Miles Partain (USA) vs. Sam Cottafava, Paolo Nicolai (Italy)
Melissa Humana-Paredes, Brandie Wilkerson (Canada) vs. Kristen Nuss, Taryn Kloth (USA)
Ana Patricia Silva, Duda Lisboa (Brazil) vs. Akiko Hasegawa, Miki Ishii (Japan)
Cherif Younousse, Ahmed Tijan (Qatar) vs. Marco Grimalt, Esteban Grimalt (Chile)
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